Private sector to help boost health delivery in Greater Accra

Accra, Feb. 26, GNA - The Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service is focusing on the involvement of the private sector to improve the quality of health delivery in the Region. To achieve this, the Directorate would ensure that the public health sector focuses on areas with poor private sector coverage whilst the privat= e health sector would zoom on positive trappings which are not attractive to the private sector.

This was made known by the Regional Health Director, Dr Irene Agyapong-Amarteyfio, at the end of a week-long Annual Review in the Region for 2010 in Accra.

She noted that the private sector had a lot of experience and facilities, which should be tapped to help address the many health problems facing the Region.

"We need to understand and tap comparative advantage of public versu= s private sectors and support the private sector to handle clinical care wher= e it has the interest," she added. Dr Agyapong-Amarteyfio noted that with the current population of 3,909,764, an increment of 34.6 per cent over the 2000 Census, the burden was too much for the Region's public health sector.

She said household level malaria protection for children from 12-23 months had achieved almost 100 per cent coverage whilst the Region also accomplished the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and AIDS= .. In a speech read on his behalf, the Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey commended health workers in the Region for their hard work. He said the region was sourcing funds to construct a hospital in Ga South Municipality.

Alhaji Mohammmed-Mubarak Muntaka, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health urged district health managers to take keen interest in the health bills brought before Parliament for approval and make inputs.